Random books from my library.

Monday, April 16, 2012

The Battle of Busaco (Neys assault)

The Battle of Busaco by Simkin

The
Battle of Busaco is not one of those Napoleonic battles that live in my
imagination particularly. I have no strong feelings about, it lacks the
resonance of Waterloo, the romance of Assaye, the miniature quality of
Maida or the piractical flair of Vittoria. I shall give the barest of
outlines and then get down to the meat of the matter.

It
is in some ways the stereotypical Peninsula battle, the British are on
the defensive and deploy the majority of their force in a reverse slope
defence, which was then assaulted by the French. But I am getting ahead
of myself and falling into that newspapermans trick of telling the end
or at least the middle of the story at the beginning. The strategic
situation is as follows; it is 1810 and the French hold Spain more or
less. Wellington has retreated from Spain into Portugal, where the
French have far more limited options as to how they may approach.
Napoleon ordered Massena, the French commander, to drive Wellington out
of Portugal. This makes sense if you imagine that Spain is a square,
while Portugal is a smaller square in the bottom left hand corner, the
edges of which are made up of the sea and mountains. Without these
mountains, there is every possibility that Portugal would simply have
ended up as more Spain.

The
French advance and take after siege several forts along the border and
then begin to march on Lisbon. Wellington picks a position, Busaco
ridge, and meets the French upon it. The French are unable to properly
scout the position or establish where the British troops are
concentrated. They launch an attack in the centre under Reynier thinking
they are hitting the flank of the British position. They become heavily
engaged and are beaten back. Ney on the French right, hears this and
believing that his comrades are winning launches another attack which is
driven off in turn with a volley and a bayonet charge.

The
French then withdrew to their original positions and proceeded to
attempt a flank march, while Wellington fell back towards the Lines of
Torres Vedras, a huge line of fortifications. The battle described here
is Ney's attack launched at the British left,
an earlier scenario covers Reyniers assault. This was an unusual
battle, as General Gorman and I played it after finishing a 30km trek as
training for our charity Boyne walk in July. We were certainly
footsore, but a certain stubbornness meant that we'd be damned before
we'd let the opportunity of a game pass.

Several
turns have already passed, the French centre has advanced and wiped out
the Portuguese Cazadores that were occupying the woods in the
foreground. My 60th Rifles have retreated to the building on the right.

The
aftermath of another disaster, I had advanced my Grenadier Guards into
the building, where they were wiped out by a statistically extremely
improbably volley from the French. The plan been to use these titans to
hold up the left. The heavy cavalry would sweep forward and pin some
unfortunate Frenchmen in square, while the Grenadiers would shoot them
down. Sadly, it was not to be and General Du Gormand took another
victory point by wiping out the Grenadiers and then occupying the
building. You can see the French general attached to the unit having a
bit of a forward reconaissance.

It
was all looking grim and Du Gormand was beginning to look like a man
who was in for the long haul. He was hedging his bets in the centre,
moving up fresh reserves while readying himself for a push on the left.
In a bid to seize back the initiative, I decided that I would throw my
centre off the hill and launch them in a bayonet charge towards the
weakened French units in the centre. If I gave him time, he would simply
pull them back and replace them with fresh ones, while getting the
cavalry on his right into play.

The
counterattack went well as the redcoats charged down will, knocking out
two French units before General Du Gormand was able to react. Things
were looking decidly dicely for General Ferey, who was struggling to
rally the remnants of his force.

But
too late, the Halberdiers and the Connaught Rangers crashed into him,
routing the French battalion. General Ferey died at the head of the
column, slain by a ball through the heart. I had played my two strongest
cards and was relying on drawing anything that would allow to keep up the momentum.

Sadly,
it was not to be despite having put myself within an ace of victory,
General DuGormands counter attack was competant, well executed and
lucky. Firstly the light infantry in the woods (right) smashed the 4th
Foot.

Then
the stronger units in the centre advanced and drove off the Rangers and
the Halberdiers, who had just run out of puff. I had been unable to
draw anything that would allow them to answer back. Crauford died, much
like Ferey at the head of his men. This French counterattack equalised
things on paper, but it changed the nature of the engagement.With the
flower of my British infantry shot down and having to rely on my
Portuguese troops, I was unlikely to be able to attack.

This left General Du Gormand sure that barring something really
astonishing, he would have the time to pick and choose the place and
time of his next attack. There was still a possibility that things could
become unhinged but it was unlikely. He started by pulling the badly
rattled French centre back and making space for his cavalry, in which he
had a decisive advantage, to move forward and threaten my centre and
left. He took his time and made sure to concentrate quality and numbers
at the decisive point.

His
cavalry, back by the Legion Irlandaise, swept forward crunching a
weakened second battalion of the Fourth Foot as he did so. The Chasseurs
charged the battery in classic Du Gourmand style, while the Hussars of
Conflans took it in the rear.

The
Chasseurs were bloodied by the Royal Artillery, who managed to rake
their ranks with grape. Hope which springs eternal, made it possible to
hope that if the Hussars were unsuccessful, there was every chance that
I'd be able to wipe them out, surround them with infantry and squeek a
victory.

Sadly,
it was not to be and the last gunner died manfully, firing to the last.
The scoreline was 7-5, which I think demonstrates how close the game
was. There were runs of luck on both sides, with my desperate charge
which brought victory within reach, being made necessary by the
supernaturally good French musketry in the opening turns.

Sort of - my troops are based on Charge! companies. Not because I play Charge! mark you, but just because I like the way the regiments are laid out. This means that I tend to have colour per three units. Much more than that I think is too many, with twenty man units they tend to look like colour parties.

What I really like about this report and the battle it relates, is that even a battle like Busaco is not a 'gimme' for the Anglo-Portuguese on the table top.Excellent!

Agree with you on the colours. I 'inherited' a friend's Napoleonic Brit 'army' - 20 figure battalions, each with the the King's and the regimental colour. It has its points, but you can have too much of a good thing, I reckon...Cheers,IonCheers,Ion